Noida Supertech twin towers - Balcony, terrace, road, park: All taken in clamour for best view

NOIDA: The last time Priya Srivastava had waited with bated breath and a camera in her hand was when the sun was about to pop up from behind the Himalayas at the crack of dawn in a Himachal village. Her excitement was no less on Sunday as the clock ticked towards 2.30pm, closer home.
"I think we can get the best view from a height. I just came down to see the crowd of people. I have completed all the household work so that I am at peace when the twin towers come down. I must rush to the balcony now. The blast can happen anytime," said Priya, a resident of Divine Meadows in Sector 93.
By 2pm on Sunday, every vantage point offering the slightest glimpse of the towers was taken. While some came from other Noida sectors, a few made it from various NCR cities, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
But Riyaz and his wife stood out. The couple had come all the way from Agra - 200km away - to fulfil the wish of their 5-year-old grandson to see the towers fall. "It is such a big event. And a historic one too. My grandson wanted to see this up close and so we came here," Riyaz told PTI.
For Radhey Shyam Tiwari, the demolition of the twin towers was the victory of good over evil. "Aisa nazaara to Dussehra par dekhne ko milta hain. Charo taraf log aur samne Ravan ka putla. Isme bhi logon ki jeet hui hai (this frenzy among people is similar to Dussehra celebrations, when we sit around and the effigy of Ravan is burnt. Here, too, people have got justice)," said Tiwari, who had come with his son from Sector 78.
The jostle for the perfect place and camera angle started early in the morning. Many, who came from faraway cities, "booked" their spots and refused to budge through the day, lest it might be taken.

Among them was Gulshan Singh, who had come from Gurgaon with his wife and two daughters. "It is a relief that the demolition is scheduled for 2.30pm. We will have enough time to return home and watch the India-Pakistan cricket match on TV," he said.
Sushil Kumar Nigam had come from Sector 108 with a binocular in hand and stationed himself at a park opposite Divine Meadows. He wanted to watch the twin towers razed to the ground for his friend, who fought the 10-year-long legal battle but died of Covid last year. "I have an emotional reason for being here. I am happy for all the Emerald Court residents. But I am here for my classmate and friend Mahendra Jain. He is not among us today, but saw the legal process through," Nigam said.

While some made lunch at breakfast time, others stayed off the kitchen and ordered food from restaurants. "We have a friend coming over to our place and I did not want my wife to be in the kitchen all day. All of us will have only one job in the afternoon - stare at the twin towers," said Sudhir Jaiswal, a resident of Sector 108
When the siren wailed just before the explosion, Tushar ran towards the lift. "My friend said he was getting a clear view from the terrace. So, I rushed. It had a better view than from the balcony of our flat," the Divine Meadows resident said.
By 2.29pm, everyone had whipped out their cameras and aimed them at the towers. Then was the moment of eerie silence. "I could even hear my heart beat with a thump. The noise was just like Diwali crackers and the towers came down like a pack of cards. The entire area was caked in a cloud of dust," Tushar told TOI.
Ratan Lal of Gejha village could not recount having seen anything like this in his life. "It's like straight out of an English film scene," he said.